Extra train carriages from the South of England will enable more visitors to access London’s business facilities such as conference centres and corporate venues, for example.

The transport secretary has announced that Waterloo International Station is to reopen especially for commuter services, thereby reducing the frequent overcrowding that southern passengers often face on trains to the capital.

According to Breaking Travel News, services from Windsor, Weybridge (via Staines), Portsmouth, Southampton, Eastleigh, Reading, Hounslow and Alton into Waterloo will all be improved, with Reading also receiving additional services.

“Passengers travelling into Waterloo have to suffer some of the busiest trains in the country, with sardine-can like conditions on many peak-time services,” Justine Greening said, according to BBC News.

The extra carriages will make use platform 20 which is due to come back into full use from 2014. It was formerly home to the Eurostar train service before it moved to Kings Cross St Pancras.

“But our plans do not stop here,” continued Greening. “We are now embarked on one of the largest programmes of rail investment since the Victorian era and we expect to introduce further carriages on Waterloo routes and bring more platforms into use in the future.”

The new services will allow an extra 8,000 peak-time passengers to arrive at Waterloo each morning.